Lexington, KY - If there is one tense in the English language that causes more grammar smashups than any other, it's the past conditional. You use the past conditional to describe what you would have done differently if circumstances had been different. For example:
If the weather had been good, I would have painted.
As with this sentence, most of the time when we use the past conditional tense, the verb at the end of the sentence (the past participle) is the same as the verb's simple past tense. Painted is the simple past tense of paint; it's also the past participle.
The challenge comes when, in a sentence employing the past conditional tense, we use one of approximately 80 common irregular verbs, including begin, catch, drink, drive, fly, give, hide, ride, run, tear, wear and write. If you're going to use one of these in past conditional, you have to know that the past participle isn't the same as the simple past tense.
For example, you don't say, "If the horse had shown up, I would have rode (simple past tense)." You say, "I would have ridden (past participle)." You don't say, "If she was richer, she would have gave (simple past tense)." You say, "She would have given (past participle)."
If you want to avoid past participle blunders, get to know the list of irregular verbs at this link: www.ielanguages.com/ english.html.
Neil Chethik, aka the Grammar Gourmet, is writer-in-residence at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning (www.carnegieliteracy.org) and author of FatherLoss and VoiceMale. The Carnegie Center offers writing classes and seminars for businesses and individuals. Contact Neil at nchet@aol.com or 859-254-4175.